Possibly renting my house

[Steve Burrell]

My family needs to move to a larger house, but we've decide that perhaps instead of selling our current house, we'd try and be landlords. I was directed here by a coworker, because I'm obviously very new to the idea!  I have a lot of questions, but I guess to start, is this a no brainer?  

The situation, basically, is this:  our current mortgage payment is around 1250 per month. In the current rental market for our home, we know we could get more than that. Low end, 1700 Even though our realtor thinks we may even be able to get closer to 2000 per month. 

The downside to the plan is that we would have less cash for a down payment on a new home.  The higher payment would offset the cash flow, but we would still have the 2 properties. Seems like a decent plan...what do you think?

Obviously, I don't know much about all of this, so I'd love any input, warnings or guidance anyone has to offer. Thanks!